Crackdown: Turkey Extends Police Powers, Shuts Down Schools

(France24 with AFP) – Turkey pushed on Saturday with a sweeping crackdown against suspected plotters of its failed coup, defiantly telling EU critics it had no choice but to root out hidden enemies.

Using new emergency powers, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s cabinet decreed that police could now hold suspects for one month without charge, and announced it would shut down over 1,000 private schools it deems subversive.

A week after renegade soldiers tried to oust him with guns, tanks and F16s, Erdogan’s government has detained over 13,000 people it suspects are state enemies, mainly soldiers but also police, judges, teachers and civil servants.

And after rounding up nearly 300 officers of the presidential guard over suspected links to the coup, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that Turkey planned to disband the 2,500-strong unit, saying there was “no need” for the elite regiment.